This weekend, UND travels to Omaha, Nebraska, to take on the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks in a pivotal two-game conference series.  This series features the top-two teams in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. A sweep for either team would be huge.

Series History

All-time, UND leads the series against the UNO Mavericks 8-5-1 (.607). In Grand Forks, ND,  UND leads the series 4-3-1 (.563). Against the Mavericks in Omaha, NE, UND leads the series 4-2-0 (.667). Under head coach Dave Hakstol, UND leads the series 8-5-1 (.607). In the last  10 games against the Mavericks, UND leads 6-3-1 (.650).

Tale of the tape

#1 North Dakota (18-5-2, 9-4-1 NCHC) vs. #5 Nebraska-Omaha (15-6-3, 9-4-1 NCHC).
Date: January 30-31, 2015
Game Time: Friday 7:37 p.m. CT, Saturday 7:07 p.m. CT
Location: CenturyLink Center, Omaha, NE
Last time out: UNO was idle last week.
Last time out: North Dakota swept Colorado College (2-1 W, 5-3 W).
UNO Offense: 15^th Nationally
UNO Defense: 26^th Nationally
UNO PWR: 4^th
UNO Last 10 games: 7-2-1 (.750)
UND Offense: 6^th Nationally
UND Defense: 7^th Nationally
UND PWR: 2^nd
UND Last 10 games: 8-2-0 (.800)
TV: Friday: CBS Sports Network, DirecTV (221), DISH Network (158)
Live Streaming: None
TV: Saturday:  Midco Sports Network, FOX College Sports Central, DirecTV (608), DISH Network (452)
Live Streaming: NCHC.TV

Key Players to watch

North Dakota – Forwards: Drake Caggiula (10g-16a—26pts), Michael Parks (9g-17a—26pts), Mark MacMillan (13g-8a—21pts), Nick Schmaltz (3g-15a—18pts), Brendan O’Donnell (9g-4a—13pts), Luke Johnson (5g-7a—12pts), Defense: Jordan Schmaltz (3g-17a—20pts), Paul LaDue (3g-9a—12pts), Tucker Poolman (6g-4a—10pts), Nick Mattson (1g-6a—7pts), Gage Ausmus (2g-2a—4pts). Goalies: Zane McIntyre (18-5-2, 1.89 GAA, .933 SV%), Cam Johnson (0-0-0, 5.54 GAA, .765SV%).

UND Injuries: Troy Stecher (lower body injury) questionable.

Nebraska-Omaha: Forwards: Austin Ortega (14g-11a—25pts), Jake Guentzel (7g-16a—23pts), Jake Randolph (4g-16a—20pts), Avery Peterson (9g-9a—18pts). Defense: Ian Brady (4g-9a—13pts), Brian Cooper (4g-9a—13pts), Luc Snuggerud (2g-10a—12pts). Goalies: Ryan Massa (10-3-3, 2.00 GAA, .936 SV%), Kirk Thompson (4-3-0, 3.02 GAA, .896SV%).

Special teams

Nebraska-Omaha – The Mavericks penalty kill is ranked 27^th in the nation (73/87, 83.9%). The Mavericks power play is ranked 33^rd in the nation (16/95 16.8%).

North Dakota – UND’s penalty kill is ranked 15^th in the nation (89/103, 86.4%). UND’s power play is ranked 13^th in the nation (21/100, 21.0%).